Chapter 153 #153

Chapter 153 #153
Chapter 153
~Third Person~

The Belmar estate had never looked like this.

Shailyn had spent three weeks transforming the back gardens, and the result was something out of a dream. 

White and blush roses was scattered everywhere. Soft ivory fabric draped between the old oak trees. Candles set inside lanterns along the stone pathway, even though the ceremony was scheduled for four in the afternoon. She wanted them lit by the time the reception started.

It was intimate. Exactly sixty-three people. Close friends, a handful of colleagues.

"You're going to wear a hole in the floor," Dwayne said, watching Shailyn pace the length of the bridal suite.

"I'm not pacing. I'm just moving."

"You've walked past that mirror seven times."

"I'm checking the flowers."

"The flowers haven't moved, Shailyn."

She stopped. Looked at him. "What if the arch collapses? It rained last night and the ground is still…"

"The arch is fine. I checked it this morning. Luke checked it. The event coordinator checked it." Dwayne crossed the room and put both hands on her shoulders. "Everything is perfect. Hannah is going to walk out there and it's going to be perfect."

Shailyn exhaled. "I just want it to be right for her."

"It is right. You made sure of that." He kissed her forehead. "Now go check on the bride before she thinks you abandoned her."

\---

Hannah was sitting in front of the vanity when Shailyn walked in, already in her dress.

It was simple and exquisite. Exactly what she would lkke. Ivory silk that hugged her figure, thin straps. Her hair was pulled up loosely, a few curls falling around her face. No veil. Just a small cluster of white flowers pinned near her ear.

Monica was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her with soft eyes. "You look beautiful."

Surprisingly, Monica was one of the bridesmaid.

"I look terrified."

"That's also beautiful," Monica said.

Shailyn set down the bouquet she'd been carrying and stood behind Hannah, meeting her eyes in the mirror. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I might throw up."

"That's the pregnancy or the nerves?"

"Both I think." Hannah laughed, pressing a hand to her stomach. "I keep thinking I'm going to forget how to walk."

"You've been walking for thirty-one years. You'll manage."

"What if I cry before I even reach him?"

"Then you cry. Luke will cry too, and it'll be the most emotional couple moment." Shailyn squeezed her shoulders. "Stop trying to hold it together. Today is the one day you're allowed to fall apart."

Hannah looked at her in the mirror for a long moment.

"I'm really happy," she said quietly. "Like genuinely, actually happy. And it's strange because I keep waiting for something to go wrong."

"Nothing's going wrong today."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that. Because I am personally refusing to let anything go wrong." Shailyn picked up the bouquet and pressed it into Hannah's hands. "Now. Are you ready?"

Hannah looked at herself one more time. Took a breath.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm ready."

\---

Luke didn't cry when Hannah appeared at the top of the garden path.

He came close.

He was standing at the end of the aisle between the trees, Dwayne just behind him, and when he saw her, his whole face changed. Everything he was feeling just settled in his mid like a relief and joy and something that looked a lot like disbelief, like he still couldn't understand how he'd gotten this lucky.

Hannah walked slowly. The song that was playing was a thousand years, it has always been her dream aisle song. She kept her eyes on him the entire time.

When she reached him, he took both her hands without being prompted.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi."

"You look so beautiful. He stopped. Cleared his throat. "I had something better prepared than that."

Hannah laughed.

"You're doing fine," Hannah told him.

The officiant began. Readings and vows. The couples had written the vow themselves.

When it was Luke's turn, he didn't look at the small card in his hand. He looked at Hannah.

"I spent a long time thinking I was pretty good at reading people," he said. "And then I met you, and I realized I had no idea what I was doing. You saw through me before I ever figured out how to show you who I actually was. And you stayed anyway." He paused. "I don't take that lightly. I'm never going to take that lightly."

Hannah pressed her lips together. Losing the battle.

"I promise to be honest with you. Even when it's uncomfortable. Especially when it's uncomfortable." His voice dropped slightly. "I promise to show up. For you. For our baby. For whatever this life throws at us. I'm not going anywhere. Not ever."

Hannah was crying now. She didn't try to stop it.

"Your turn," Luke said softly.

She laughed through the tears and looked down at her card.

"I wrote this three times," she said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "The first version was too formal. The second one made me sound like I was going to give a speech."

Laughter again. Warmer this time.

"This one is just the truth." She steadied herself. "I didn't think I'd get here. Not because I didn't want it, but because I wasn't sure I knew how to let someone in far enough to mean something. And then you were just there. All the time. Always present and annoying and relentless and good." She shook her head. "You never let me disappear when things got hard. You never made me feel like being complicated was too much to deal with."

Luke was definitely close to crying now.

"I love you," Hannah said simply. "I love who you are when things are easy. I love who you are when they're not. And I am so glad it's you."

The officiant gave them a moment. Let it breathe.

Then the rings.

Luke's hands were shaking. Not badly, but enough that Hannah noticed, and she steadied his hand with both of hers without making a thing of it.

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband….  "

Like cut in. “My wife, my beautiful wife.” He intended to say it quietly but he was loud.

The ceremony dissolved into warm laughter. Hannah was laughing too, wiping her eyes, and Luke was trying to collect himself while Dwayne clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"You may kiss the bride," the officiant said, smiling.

Luke cupped Hannah's face. She met him halfway.

The guests stood.

\---

The reception opened up onto the lower garden, where tables had been set beneath string lights and the roses Shailyn had obsessed over for weeks. A small band played something low and easy in the corner. The evening light came in golden and unhurried.

Shailyn found Dwayne at the bar, both of them watching the new couple move through the crowd.

"Ten dollars," she said.

"I know, I know."

"He cried first. You owe me ten dollars."

"He didn't cry. He got emotional."

"Dwayne."

"There were tears."

"There were."

He pulled out his wallet without further argument.

She tucked it into the small pocket of her dress, deeply satisfied.

A little later, Hannah found her at one of the tables, both of them having temporarily escaped their respective husbands.

"My feet are already killing me," Hannah said, dropping into the chair beside her.

"You should've listened to me about the shoes."

"The shoes are beautiful."

"They are beautiful. They're also going to leave marks."

"Worth it." Hannah looked out at the garden. The lights. The people they loved moving through the space. "This is everything, Shailyn. I mean that. All of this."

"You deserved all of this."

"We both did." Hannah rested her head briefly on Shailyn's shoulder. "Look at us. A year ago everything was on fire."

"It really was."

"And now." She gestured vaguely at the scene in front of them. "This."

"This," Shailyn agreed.

They sat like that for a moment. Not saying anything. Not needing to.

Then Dwayne appeared with two glasses of sparkling cider. "For the mothers-to-be."

"I hate that you're enjoying this," Hannah said, taking the glass.

"You'll be grateful for the sobriety tomorrow morning."

"I'm already grateful for it. I just don't want to admit it."

Luke joined them a few minutes later, tie loosened, looking like the happiest man alive. He sat beside Hannah and pulled her into his side like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"How's my wife?" he asked.

"Your wife is perfect," she said.

"Yeah." He kissed her temple. "She really is."

Shailyn caught Dwayne's eye across the table. He smiled at her. She smiled back.

Sometime around eight, Shailyn received a call. 

"Mrs. Belmar," the voice on the phone continued, loud enough for Hannah to catch the edge of it. "We would like to request that you come for a session with Mr. Dante Belmar."

What?